/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////The world of Tanafar is heavily inspired by a world that was briefly described in Victor Pelevin's book "Love to three Zuckerbrins". Feel free to include it into any campaign or any (hopefully) non-profit creative work.However, a particular use of it in my mind is to replace the Ysgard Outer Plane of Planescape. Ysgard, in my humble opinion, is the least interesing of the Outer Planes, is too similar to Arborea, and it does a poor job of representing it's alignment. It's critical feautres can be distributed between Tanafar, Arborea, and, perhaps, a plane or two without a status of an Outer Plane./////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Clarifications: "Divinely Morphic" means that Tanafar's reality can be warped by divine will. "locally - Highly Morphic" means that there are places on Tanafar which reality is unstable and can be warped by the will of any sentient being. "Wild" magic means that spellcasting on Tanafar is less predictable than normally. "Chaotic" alignment of a world means that it abhors order, analysis, consistency, and laws, and embodies chaos, intuition, change, and violation of laws. "Good tendencies" mean that the world is somewhat hospitable and naturally more open to "good" people than to "bad" ones, but not so much to be called a part of the Heavens.

Cosmology

The main "layer" of the Tanafar is a finite, but enormous, planetoid, called the Seesaw, that is populated mostly on surface. The Seesaw is extremely urbanized body, covered in cityscape, ruins, jungles, mountains, and canyons. It is "orbited" by it's three moons ("pseudomoons", if you are a pedant) - The Liberty, The Equality, and The Fraternity. Those moons dance around the Seesaw in complete disregard to any celestial mechanics - their movement may suddenly and instantly reverse it's direction, and it's not that uncommon to them to fly away from the Seesaw's range of vision, of to descend to it and hover just 50 meters above the surface(2). Nobody remembers those planetoids to ever collide with each other or with Seesaw, however. Each moon is finite in size and can be considered a separate layer of the world. The moons' unpredictable movements dramatically influence the life on the Seesaw in a vast number of ways, causing great destruction and inspiring great creation. Lastly, the infinite space in which those four spheres reside is called The Starfield - the last "layer" of the plane. It is tightly stacked with "stars" (glowing spheres) of all sizes - from a sparkle to a small planet (no "real" stars here). There is no sun in the Tanafar, no day or night, and the world is constantly illuminated by the Starfield, as well as the fluorescent-like light of it's moons. Natural vitalizing aura of the world renders sleep not just unnecessary, but nigh-impossible.

Seesaw

The Liberty

The Liberty, white pseudomoon of Seesaw, is one of the safest locations in the multiverse. It is also one of the loneliest ones. It appears to be a flat, featureless surface, with fruit trees and small ponds of water rarely scattered around, below a sky thickly covered by white clouds.However, the most unique and distinctive thing about The Liberty is it's geometry. It's simplest explanation is that only people with mutual desire to meet or interact can ever meet or interact on The Liberty. As soon as at least one person feels irritated or threatened by a presence of another, there could be no movement in a direction from one to another. A step, seemingly towards such a person, would bring you a step away from it. An arrow, shot seemingly into such a person, would land a hundred meters away from it. Even a nuclear-scale explosion in five meters from a target would do nothing to it, as long as it and an initiator of an explosion have a mutual desire to be near each other. If someone is unsuspecting of a sneak attack or a treason, it could harm them, but if you are properly paranoid, no assassin or traitor can go anywhere near you on The Liberty. There is also a reverse effect - if two individuals, strongly and mutually, seek each other, there is almost no stopping them, and the distance between them wouldn't mean much. Locals often like to say that The Liberty is a world where everyone is free, yet nothing is free. Fruits that grow on local trees are very bitter, unless they are meticulously cooked. The water in the ponds is always sour due to a (small) concentration of dissolved acid, that should be filtered out, evaporated, or magically purified. Local wood and stone need special preparation to pass for construction materials. Ores are always buried deep underground. Life on The Liberty has a lot of advantages, but it is almost never easy. Obviously, the majority of time spent on The Liberty by most people is spent in solitude. A lot of groups of people arrive here to put their unity and dedication to the test. A lot of people here are ascetics and freethinkers. Many more - refugees and paranoics. Many arrive to exchange things that can only be exchanged here - in an atmosphere of absolute privacy and consent. And, of course, many of the most faithful and radical champions of freedom call The Liberty their home.

Locations on The Liberty:

The BazaarA single, tacky, trading stall, standing in the middle of nowhere. Or at least that's what it appears to be. In reality, The Bazaar consists of millions of identical stalls, simultaneously existing in one location. The one initially perceived by a client is the one selling things he desires to buy the most, but it can be changed by a small exertion of willpower. When multiple clients interact simultaneously with the different stalls of Bazaar, they don't see or feel each other. Anyone can also go to The Bazaar with the intention to sell something - then, he will find an empty stall, with an appropriate sign and, perhaps, even some clients in line, if their goods are sought after. There is almost no ground for unfair competition at the Bazaar, and the quality of goods is outstanding. However, most merchants here are united into a guild, and try to keep the price on most goods as high as possible. As there is no way for them to enforce their dominance, anyone willing to offer a cheaper price can do so. Obviously, if a person on The Liberty desires to buy anything, they likely will quickly walk to The Bazaar, no matter where they are.

The Wall of CarvingsAn enormously long, dark gray, and monolithic stone wall, that is about a meter high, with a lot of engraving tools scattered around. On the wall, true to it's name, there are a lot of carvings. Moving carvings. Although they never change shape, the messages on the wall quickly resize and move around it, appearing before anyone interested. Anyone can leave their trace here - and nobody and nothing can remove anything from The Wall of Carvings. Old messages move underground, but can always, always be brought back by anyone interested.

The Equality

The Fraternity

Starfield

Content related exclusively to this world as a plane in Planescape

The Liberty is a common place of meetings between the Baatezu and the Tanar'ri - be it for attempts at diplomacy, Blood War espionage and treason, or love.

(1) Tanafar (arabic) - Disharmony, Repulsion. Thanks, Google Translate. Also, "Revolutionary Carnival" has at least two meanings - the flow of life on Seesaw, or the "revolution-al" dance of the Seesaw's moons around it.(2) It must also be noted that objects on the moons don't feel their immense acceleration. Take that, Newton !

Basically, to satisfy this world's general stylistic direction, a piece of music needs to be one or more of the following:1) A melody fitting for a carnival, circus, or ball.2) A song that calls for revolution or battle.3) A fast and upbeat metal song. (See symphonic metal, power metal, and speed metal.)The more of those guidelines satisfied by a song, the better .

However, there is an another, less obvious aspect of Tanafar, that needs to be represented by an entirely different type of music: The Starfield. It represents beautiful and inspiring ideas, stories, pieces of art... and needs to be represented by occasional songs in genres like Techno or Nu-Disco (I think, I don't really know musical genres, but a general guideline is Shooting Stars.)

Then, there are things that go completely against the mood:1) Ominous music. No Mars, Bringer of War, no The Carnival from Homestuck or other "evil circus" stuff, no Black/Death/Doom Metal.2) Slow, rhythmless music. No Journey of the Sorcerer, no Earth Song, no slow classical dances.3) No overtly classical orchestral music with 50 different instruments playing at the same time. Not fitting for CHAOS !

Premise: I have no idea who Pelevin is, but I tend to like places that react to the travelers' will.

(Will the plane have mechanical info/tangible rules?)

Quote:

The moons' unpredictable movements dramatically influence the life on the Seesaw in a vast number of ways, causing great destruction and inspiring great creation.

How, exactly? Do they subtly influence the feelings of the inhabitants? Do they create magical fields? Do their movements cause cataclysms?

Quote:

There is no sun in the Tanafar, no day or night, and the world is constantly illuminated by the Starfield, as well as the fluorescent-like light of it's moons.

How much lighting is there? Are we talking a clear night with luminous full moon, day bright, permanent pre-dawn...? Does it change erratically?

Quote:

Natural vitalizing aura of the world renders sleep not just unnecessary, but nigh-impossible.

Because you merely don't feel tired or sleepy (so you could enter a sleep-like meditation) or also because the aura prevents you from reaching the needed concentration? It is a Chaotic world after all.

Quote:

Life on The Liberty has a lot of advantages, but it is almost never easy.

Going easy on the metaphor, huh?

Quote:

The Bazaar

I like the concept on principle, but there are a few things that make me mumble hard. To name one...

Quote:

There is almost no ground for unfair competition at the Bazaar, and the quality of goods is outstanding.

Why so? To have an endless supply of high-quality wares you need a rather high number of master artisans (from basically every field of crafts) willing to sell at low prices, which is not exactly obvious.

I do understand why this would be a great place for planar smugglers, though.

Quote:

The Wall of Carvings

From the ominous name I had expected a 3+ metres tall wall, though the image of an impossibly long but easily jumpable wall is nice How would one determine what carvings they see? Do they see a blank wall until they imagine what they want to see? Does the wall connect with the watcher's surface thoughts, with their deepest beliefs, with their heart's desire? What about intrusive thoughts?

...is the wall perpendicular to time? Like, could a pair of beings exchange messages across the aeons? This moon has all kinds of potential for stories meddling with the concept of soulmates.

I'd suggest you to put long, discussion-type posts into spoilers to not clog up the thread.

questions

Premise: I have no idea who Pelevin is, but I tend to like places that react to the travelers' will.

(Will the plane have mechanical info/tangible rules?)

Quote:

The moons' unpredictable movements dramatically influence the life on the Seesaw in a vast number of ways, causing great destruction and inspiring great creation.

How, exactly? Do they subtly influence the feelings of the inhabitants? Do they create magical fields? Do their movements cause cataclysms?

Quote:

There is no sun in the Tanafar, no day or night, and the world is constantly illuminated by the Starfield, as well as the fluorescent-like light of it's moons.

How much lighting is there? Are we talking a clear night with luminous full moon, day bright, permanent pre-dawn...? Does it change erratically?

Quote:

Natural vitalizing aura of the world renders sleep not just unnecessary, but nigh-impossible.

Because you merely don't feel tired or sleepy (so you could enter a sleep-like meditation) or also because the aura prevents you from reaching the needed concentration? It is a Chaotic world after all.

Quote:

Life on The Liberty has a lot of advantages, but it is almost never easy.

Going easy on the metaphor, huh?

Quote:

The Bazaar

I like the concept on principle, but there are a few things that make me mumble hard. To name one...

Quote:

There is almost no ground for unfair competition at the Bazaar, and the quality of goods is outstanding.

Why so? To have an endless supply of high-quality wares you need a rather high number of master artisans (from basically every field of crafts) willing to sell at low prices, which is not exactly obvious.

I do understand why this would be a great place for planar smugglers, though.

Quote:

The Wall of Carvings

From the ominous name I had expected a 3+ metres tall wall, though the image of an impossibly long but easily jumpable wall is nice How would one determine what carvings they see? Do they see a blank wall until they imagine what they want to see? Does the wall connect with the watcher's surface thoughts, with their deepest beliefs, with their heart's desire? What about intrusive thoughts?

...is the wall perpendicular to time? Like, could a pair of beings exchange messages across the aeons? This moon has all kinds of potential for stories meddling with the concept of soulmates.

answers

Pelevin is a russian postmodernist writer. He wrote a lot of books, some of which are translated to English. I liked most of his stuff I've read.

The world is not limited to DnD, so I'm reluctant to give it rules based only on DnD. I might give general stuff, like precentages of some things to happen, or even alignment-related descriptions, but nothing related to classes or saving throws or the like.

I'll write about Moons' impact on Seesaw when I'll write about the Seesaw. All three of your guesses are pretty much correct, though, but there's much more than that.

Permanent pre-dawn, but it sometimes changes erratically, because everything on Seesaw does.

Aura doesn't prevent concentration. It prevents calm. You can be happy and free from worries, or you can be concentrated on a complex task, or even think in a quiet brainstorm, but you can't meditate, relax on a couch, "think of nothing", or sleep. Yes, this effect can be psychologically drainig, especially for NG, TN, or NE types. Easy ways to fall asleep on Tanafar are drugs, spells, or knockdowns, although even sleep from those things generally doesn't last long.

The Liberty doesn't symbolize America. (Unless we are talking about the times of first settlers or wild west.) The closest things on Earth to the spirit of The Liberty as depicted there are resourseless empty islands in the middle of an ocean.

Prices on The Bazaar are also high. Quality is high because there are no methods of competition usual for feudal societies (like most DnD ones) - methods like forcing competitors to pay you by royal decrees of monopoly, or relying on the natural monopoly of being the only baker in the city who makes buns, or just hiring goons to tear competitor's shop apart. There are also no great modern methods of competiton, like placing a lot of excessive and dishonest advertisement everywhere, or dousing opponents in black PR.Also, supply isn't endless. The only thing on Bazaar that's (virtually) endless are trading stalls. Not even 1% of them is active at any given moment.

You never see a blank wall, you see a chaos of random carvings, some moving, some still. If someone wrote a message for you specifically, it'll travel to you, and appear in a short period of time (under five minutes). If you tell a wall a simple command, related messages will crawl on the area before you.

The wall doesn't do time travel.

"The concept of soul mates is trash. Please refrain from exploring it." - Statistics, a science of trends and coincedences.

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